Tea production increases in February

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Tea production in February this year has increased.

The total reported production of tea in Sri Lanka during February this year amounted to 23,508,012 kgs as against 12,881,691 kgs produced during the corresponding month in 2009. This shows an increase of 82.5 percent or 10,626,321 kgs, Tea Board Chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi told Daily News Business.

“There is a growing demand in the Middle East and Russia for low grown tea. The country is looking at potential markets to increase its export volume”, he said.

The performance for the first two months is impressive and we anticipate this trend to continue. The country produces 300 to 320 million kgs of tea for an year, he said.

The tea industry will progress well with the correct application of fertilizer, improved weather conditions and a stable labour force.

This would enable the country to fetch better prices at the global market. The total tea production during January to February 2010 amounted to 51,970,354 kgs as against 30,766,300 kgs produced during the corresponding period 2009.

This shows an increase of 68.9 percent or 21,204,054 kgs.

However, the figures recorded last year were unusually low due to many reasons such as fertilizer not being applied on time and the weather not being conducive.

This resulted in a 44 percent drop in production compared to 2008.

The March and April performance is expected to further improve as January and February are considered as lean periods.

The country could record high figures with better crops and prices.

The tea production categorywise namely under orthodox, CTC, green tea for February 2010 were 22,074,269 kgs, 1,224,659 kgs and 209,085 kgs respectively.

For 2009 February the figures were 11,871,994 kgs, 914,875 kgs and 94,821.

For 2010 January and February these figures were 48,829,362 kgs, 2,731,897 kgs and 409,096 kgs and for 2009 these figures were 28,345,450 kgs 2,160,013 kgs and 260,838 kgs. Sri Lanka is conducting marketing research to capture new markets and adopt changing strategies to expand its current global tea market.